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So, I’ve been going through my files from when I was in school, earning my MFA in Creative Writing, and I came across this exercise I had done in which I was supposed to tell a story with only dialogue. I believe it had to have at least two characters, though I can’t say for certain. But I wanted to share it with you because it was kind of fun to read it again. You all might enjoy it, too.

~~~~~~~~~

“Did you hear that?”

“Hm? Hear what?”

“I… thought I heard something.”

“Like what?”

“…Like rustling in the trees.”

“Haha, What?”

“It’s not funny!”

“It’s a little funny. I mean, there’s wind and animals, and then there’s trees. It’s only natural for there to be rustling.”

“Whatever! I saw this movie. You know, that one where the people get stuck on the dirt road in the middle of Hicksville and a bunch of deformed inbreeders murder them in the most unbelievable, gory way possible.”

“Wrong Turn?”

“Yah, that one!”

“Well, we didn’t take any wrong turns, so relax.”

“Sure we didn’t, but the tire blew out just like in the movie.”

“Ha! Okay, now you are just being silly. The tire blew out on its own, not because someone sabotaged us. Good thing I remembered to bring the jack this time.”

“Maybe I should go back down the road and check that no one sabotaged us.”

“You want to walk down the creepy, dirt road by yourself?”

“Well—Well, no, but I thought maybe you could come along. It would only take a minute.”

“Oh, come on. I’m right in the middle of changing the tire. You can’t possibly be asking me to stop what I’m doing to come along with you while you feed your paranoia.”

“When you put it that way, you make me sound crazy.”

“You are being crazy right now. We’ve got 3 hours until the ceremony and only a couple hundred miles left to drive. I’d like to shower and shave before accepting my award.”

I bet if I’d asked you to look at some smelly, old rocks I saw back there you’d agree.”

So, yesterday Majora’s Mask was rereleased on 3DS. This game was a huge part of my childhood. I remember when it first came out, it was Christmas time and my brothers and sister and I pooled our money together in order to buy it and the expansion pack that was required to play it on the Nintendo 64. We had huge fans of Ocarina of Time, and I had loved the original, old school Legend of Zelda. So it was a big deal, buying that game together, and what was best was that we were able to get our hands on a gold cartridge version of the game. This was a huge deal to us.

I remember the day after Christmas our father took us to a Toys R Us that was a good 20 to 25 minutes away in order for us to get the expansion pack. My sister and I especially played the game a lot, just like we had with Ocarina of Time. And just like OOT, I would read to her the game text, and sometimes I would even make up my own language and read it to her in that. Mostly because I had played the game so many times that I grew bored of reading it over and over to her, so saying it in a made-up language made it fun for us.

While I loved Ocarina of Time probably the most, Majora’s Mask does have a special place in my heart, which is why I’ve playing it so much since receiving it yesterday. One of the things that has always stood out about this game is the extremely dark nature of it. As the title of this blog post states, it induces nightmares. Surprisingly, there are so many creepy things happening in this game. Whether done intentionally or not, Majora’s Mask is a fairly dark and somewhat horrific game.

First, we have the transformations. Throughout the game Link is given three masks that transform him into three different species: Deku, Goron, and Zora. Not only does he get the latter two from dead characters, which in itself isn’t too bad, the first time he puts any of the masks on, and animation plays that could easily disturb a person, even a grown adult. Link screams out in agony as he puts the masks on and takes them off, and a whirling animation plays to disorient the user. There is clearly a strong theme of death and coming to terms with it in this game, but why make the transformations so violent? Thankfully, you can skip them after the first time… and I always do.

Next, we interact with and come across many dead characters, not including the ones mentioned above. For example, the dancing guy on top of the mushroom in Termina Field or the dead soldier who can only be seen with the Lens of Truths. These are not the only ones, though, as we have Poes and the bone guys, as well as gidbo, who appear to be mummies. Not to mention the possible impending death of the entire world of Termina, which could imply everyone is either dead or potential dead. And there is a long-standing theory that Link might actually be dead himself and Termina is a sort of Purgatory, which explains why everyone is reminiscent of characters seen in Ocarina of Time. (Personally, while I don’t dislike that theory, I see Termina as more of a Wonderland or maybe a purgatory similar to the Lost Woods rather than to death.)

Moreover, the second most fear inducing aspects of the game would be Link’s duplicates. On the surface, these women seem so bad, but then we see the humanoid duplicate with its moonlike grin and dead, stoic eyes. Honestly, it seems ridiculous to be so afraid and so creeped out by this mannequin, but there’s something about the way it grins and stares as if it knows your fate and your secrets and can stare into your soul, and maybe even steal it for itself. *shutter* It doesn’t help that the Creepypasta BEN Drowned is so effectively disturbing (and, of course, my favorite). If you haven’t read that one, here’s the link; go do it now, but be warned it does induce nightmares, especially if you have played Majora’s Mask.

Finally, and probably most creepy, is the moon and all it represents. Not only is that moon outrageously scary for this type of game, with it’s disturbing grin and huge, sinister eyes, it also represents the impending doom of Termina. This particular world only has three days until destruction. Once the three days is up, the moon will crash into it and completely destroy it. Even though the moon is clearly moving at a snail’s pace, you can in fact watch it crash and obliterate everything… If you don’t turn back time fast enough. While the impending destruction is quite dark and foreboding, it’s only made nightmare inducing because of the moon’s design.

For a game that was sort of just slapped together, as I’ve read, it has a lot of depth and a lot of creep factor. There are so many other things to discover and so many creepy things within the story, that I strongly encourage others to get this game if they haven’t already. I would call it one of the creepiest non-horror games out there. Also, it helps that it makes me really nostalgic about those times with my younger siblings and family.

My most recent release was Misbegotten, which is a horror novelette about a video gamer who is being haunted by a mysterious and disturbing video game. It’s one of my favorite stories I’ve written so far because it involves a couple of things I really love: horror games and let’s players. So, I thought it would be fun to give you all my top 5 horror games list. I’m sure this is totally debatable, but they are the ones I’ve played and find to be the best. Feel free to tell me your favorites in the comments! Also, if you want to watch someone else play the game, I’ll include links to my favorite youtube gamers for the specific games.

Corpse Party

I’m sure I’ve gushed about how much I love this game. Corpse Party is not a typical horror game. It’s more of a weird hybrid of game and novel. Since I am an author and an avid gamer, I feel like it is the best of my two favorite things. (Well, two of my three favorite things. Movies are the third.) Corpse Party is about a group of classmates who perform a charm that pulls them into a deadly and disturbing alternate version of a school. They are stalked by ghosts and creeps, and other “monster.” The best part of this game is the horrific death scenes. They are well-written and disturbing. Honestly, the novelization is the greatest asset to this game. Even though there is some hilariously awkward dialogue in the game, it’s easy to feel for the characters. It’s sad when a character dies, and players find themselves on the edge of their seats, holding their breath and hoping that their favorite isn’t dead, and players (or watchers) breath sighs of relief when characters turn out okay (not for long!). Storytelling is all about making people feel something, and Corpse Party does that with amazing skill.

If you want to watch someone play this, I suggest Cry (Cryaotic). His play through is the absolute best, and of course, his voice is made of sex. He gets really into the narrative, and does an excellent job with reading.

Fatal Frame

Okay, this game freaked me the hell out. The atmosphere was intense and eerie; and viewing ghosts through a camera was just too terrifying. Honestly, I don’t know how I made it through this game alive because I can’t even watch a play through without my heart racing. I really love the idea of defeating enemies with a camera, but oh man is it scary! There’s nothing scarier than looking down a hallway and seeing nothing, only to lift a camera and see creepy ghosts lunging toward you in the camera viewer. *shutter* Just thinking about it makes me want to run and hide.

Now, I can’t suggest any gamer on youtube because none of the players I watch have done a play through. However, I think Cry did do a few videos before discontinuing, so you can take a look at those.

Silent Hill (Series… minus Homecoming)

It’s really hard for me to give a specific Silent Hill game for this part because all of them, excluding the horrible piece of crap that was Homecoming, have their intense and creepy moments. However, it is clear that there was a pretty clear distinction between the first three and the subsequent games. The first three are much more frightening than the rest, probably because they were made by the original Japanese team, but there were great things in some of the later games, too. The idea that you are just a regular dude (and girl on a couple of occasions) with no power, other than the ability to wield a flashlight and a pipe, is pretty frightening. Each installment has its own best attribute. The first and third game had Alessa, two had pyramid head, four had some creeptastic hauntings and the concept of being trapped in an apartment, and Shattered Memories had this excellent ambiguity with a very different game play from the others.

Also, as I mentioned on Facebook, I’m thrilled with PT. the playable trailer for the possible next installment Silent Hills. Not fond of the name or Norman Reedus (I like the guy, but I feel like they are using him to build hype), but I think it could potentially be a bad ass game. And finally, some fun Silent Hill play throughs to watch would be PewdiePie for SH1, Game Grumps for SM, and TheRadBrad for SH2.

Cry of Fear

This game has my favorite opening game play of all time. The rooms are engulfed in complete darkness, and the player must lead the character through with only a camera as a light source. So, to see (and move), the player must take a picture to set off the flash. Imagine all the creepy things lurking in the pitch darkness that can be viewed only for a tiny fraction of a second. It’s wonderful! ..in that intense, creepy way. There are some really messed up bad guys and psychological undertones that remind me a bit of the Silent Hill games. Overall, it’s a creepy game that’s fun to watch and play!

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Who knew it was possible to make a game about being a night guard for a creepy kids place with animatronic characters even more scary. But they did! I mean, let’s face it, animatronics are kind of creepy by themselves, so add the element of being trapped in camera room at night with limited power makes it even more frightening. But, oh no! It doesn’t end there. Let’s add the element of MOVING animatronics that try to murder you. You can’t move, but they can! These are the things nightmares are made of, guys! While this game is pretty new, it’s an outrageously frightening game. It doesn’t matter how prepared you are for the impending doom or the jumpscare or the power outage… it will get you. EVERY. TIME. Heartattack + Nightmare = This game. Pirate Cove guy and Teddy Bear will leave your pants wet. Just saying.

Of course, there are hundreds more amazing horror games, but that would be too much for one post. Some other really awesome ones worth mentioning are Ib, which is pixel horror; Amnesia: Dark Descent, which took me forever to beat due to having to constantly take breaks; the Resident Evil series; and The Last of Us.

So, now that we’ve talked about the bad and the ugly in terms of horror sequels, it’s time to wrap up this series with a positive note. If you missed the first two posts in the Horror Sequels series, in which I discuss horror sequels I’ve seen and horror sequels so bad I refused to watch them, then check them out after you’ve read this installment about good horror sequels.

I can’t say for certain that any of these are of the same standard as the first in their series, but I find them to be sequels that I have watched numerous times and still enjoyed, not because they are stupid or fun, but because they are good movies.

Aliens

Even though this movie did not have the same level of creep and cinematography as its predecessor, it is still a great movie. Sigourney is just as wonderful in this one as she is I the first, and it has Michael Biehn. What more does it need? Sure, we also see the creepy kid cliche, which worked in this movie. Ripley was no longer vulnerable enough, so the kid was added to help build that suspense and likability to the Ripley character. At least Newt wasn’t that child trope where you really wished the monster would eat her and put us, and the other characters, out of our misery. Add in a badass mech battle and a dripping Queen, and we’ve got ourselves an awesome movie. Strangely enough, I was occasionally more creeped out by Bishop than some of the other things in this film.

Insidious Chapter 2

I’ll admit, I had my hesitations on this particular movie. I loved the first Insidious, and as you can tell, I’m extremely opposed to having unnecessary sequels. This one was a movie I almost said no to. Honestly, I gave it a try only out of curiosity, and there’s something about Patrick Wilson that I really enjoy. Sometimes, he can be so creepy, but he’s also pretty charming in a weird way that I can’t quite put my finger on. Insidious II had a great twist to it that made it worth while as a sequel. I won’t spoil it, but I love the fact that this series focuses on the idea of astral projection rather than some other typical horror trope.

Scream 2

The Scream series is one of my favorite slasher series; I’ve probably watched all of the movies (except 4) a million times. As far as sequels go, Scream 2 was a satisfying watch. Was it as good as the first one? I wouldn’t say so. However, it had some cool things going on. One thing I loved was that there was real effort to keep the identity of the killer secret. Just like in the first movie, it was just about red herrings and dramatizing the obvious choice. The Scream movies always tried to actively keep the audience guessing. Also, Timothy Olyphant is one of my favorite actors and plays a fantastic psychopath (sociopath?). I will have to say, though, that I just about table-flipped when a certain dorky horror movie buff was brutally murdered. That was one death that I’m still mad about… even though the movie is over 15 years old.

Other sequels that are good include Silent Hill Revelation (which was way more true to the game franchise), Halloween H20, and Saw II, among others. There are also sequels that I watch out of loyalty to the franchise… at least until they get too stupid. For example, I enjoyed all of the Resident Evil movies even though a couple of them were a bit… uncouth. Are there sequels you enjoy? What about ones that surpass the first?

When I originally thought of this post series, I had intended on writing a “Top 5 Terrible Horror Movie Sequels” to discuss some of the awful sequels that have come out. As I tried to write my list, I realized that I actually haven’t watched as many bad sequels as I thought. It’s not that I haven’t watched sequels or watched about a million horror movies both good and hilariously bad, but I realized that the problem was that I pretty much refuse to watch shitty sequels to horror movies that shouldn’t have had a second (or third, or thirteenth) movie in the first place.

In the end, I decided that I would keep the lists short by giving three of each instead, and do it in a three-part series, which I’ll release once a week for the next three weeks. Imagine it as my “The Good, the Bad, and the Really Freaking Ugly” list. For Part I, I’ll talk about the “bad.”

After discovering that I’ve watched very few sequels due to straight up refusing to watch them, I had very few to choose from for my list. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen my share of sequels that fall into the “meh” range (I Know What You Did Last Summer and a few of the decent Halloween sequels, for example), but the following are three with enough substance to talk about. So, here are three terrible sequels I’ve seen.

Jason X

Do I really need to say more? I mean… TEN movies? The first two: okay, I get it, and they weren’t that bad. But really, anything after that was just too stupid. Let’s think about this: Jason… IN SPACE. I can’t even imagine how this went down during the conception and writing stage, and I definitely can’t think of anyone who would think this was a good idea. I often wonder what was going through the minds of these sequel writers. Did the guys purposely do the stupidest thing they could think of? Or were they actually serious here? (It should be noted that there were a lot of dumb sequels coming out at this time, so maybe it was just a phase in the horror genre?)

Poltergeist II

Even though this one could have been way worse, it was an extreme disappointment of a sequel to an awesome first movie. Maybe we all had high hopes and they were just dashed at every turn. While the movie has a really creepy old guy leering at a little girl all the time—and let’s face it, that IS creepy—it still doesn’t make for a good movie. Let’s put it this way, I fail to see the horror in swallowing a possessed worm from a tequila bottle and then, in turn, becoming possessed. Well, I do see the horror in its absurdity. Otherwise, it’s just too ridiculous.

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection

Just look at that Photoshop job. Ah, gotta love that crap. Okay, before you start laughing so hard you can’t continue reading, let me at least mention this one. While the original Tremors wasn’t exactly the greatest horror movie ever, it still had its merits. I like B horror movies and spent most of my childhood (and adulthood!) watching them with my dad and sister, but Tremors III isn’t even close to a B movie. I don’t know if it was the loss of Kevin Bacon (after 1) and then Fred Ward (after 2) that made it go awry, but I just can’t enjoy an alleged horror movie with butt-blasting monsters who fart explosives in order to fly. As if that isn’t bad enough, the humans spend the rest of the film (which is most of it) referring to them as “Assblasters.” I’m sorry, but no. Just no. Don’t get me wrong, if I’m having a crappy horror movie marathon, I might watch this one (or if it’s a Tremors marathon), but otherwise… no.

There are, of course, some others that are worth mentioning that, for whatever reason, I have seen: Bride of Chucky, Halloween 2, and Nightmare on Elm Street 2. Man, I really had to rack my brain for some of these. Just like I can predict the “twist” in a movie about five minutes in (I’m talking about you, The Unborn), I can tell when a sequel is not worth my time. In the next installment, I’ll talk about sequels so terrible I refused to watch them.

Do you want to win a free Kindle Fire? I bet you do! You can read about how below. But, before you enter, you should check out one of my fellow sponsors of this giveaway. Gord Rollo has a book called The Jigsaw Man. It sounds pretty epic and disturbing, so you should check it out. After, though, come back and follow the Rafflecopter directions to enter for a chance to win a free Kindle Fire.

A BROKEN MAN DOWN ON HIS LUCK…
Michael Fox is a homeless man living in a garbage dumpster beneath the Carver Street Bridge in Buffalo, NY. He’s bitterly depressed and ready to commit suicide; anything to put an end to his miserable existence.

AN OFFER TOO GOOD TO REFUSE…
When a mysterious billionaire surgeon offers Michael two million dollars for his right arm, he thinks his luck might be about to change. Little does he know that the surgeon has other plans for him. His arm is only the beginning. Bit by bit other pieces of Michael’s body are surgically removed; his natural body stripped away and then reassembled using other harvested parts from thirteen different ‘donors’.

A MODERN DAY FRANKENSTEIN…
Now Fox isn’t sure if he’s a man or a monster, or whether or not he’d be better off dead. One thing he is sure of though, he’s not checking out of this world until he finds a way to make the people responsible pay for turning him into the experimental nightmare known as… The Jigsaw Man.

Also, stay tuned for a very special Halloween post from me here on the Cole Knightly blog. I’ll be posting a second part to the Wraith story. My beta readers insisted that I write more, so I must oblige!

Finally, don’t forget that I’m giving away some great prizes for Week of Creep. You can sign up below!

About the Author

Cole Knightly writes horror and supernatural thrillers. His debut short story, Portrait of a Ghost, was released in November 2012. Cole has a Masters in Fine Art with a Creative Writing emphasis. He enjoys playing horror and survival video games, which is also where he gets a lot of his inspiration from.